Minneapolis Underground Film Festival.com

The new improved MUFF 2.0 Promises to bring audiences films from Cannes and South by Southwest as well as Eagan and Duluth.

Now moving into it’s fifth year, the Minneapolis Underground Film Festival listened to it’s audiences and brought a diverse lineup to this year’s festival.

One film that is particularly interesting to see is Showing Sun., Aug. 19, 1 p.m. by Director Peter Sasowsky called “Heaven+Earth+Joe Davis about the genius artist Joe Davis who has been called the “Father of Bio-art” for his pioneering work with transgenic organisms. He has been featured on Nightline, in Scientific American, and has collaborated with some of the greatest minds in contemporary science. The film now on it’s 15th film festival will pass through Minneapolis only briefly before being locked up for distribution.

This year there are over forty short films by local, national and international filmmakers in competition. Some are played before screenings others are grouped into themed showcases. “The Freaky Times” showcase Sat., Aug. 18, 7:45 p.m., is not for the faint of heart and covers all manner of taboo subjects. There is even a short film about a conversation between two…think “The Vagina Dialogues” and you might get the picture.

The Minneapolis Underground Film Festival is hosted by the Film Society of Minneapolis/St. Paul at St. Anthony Main theater Aug.18-19. For more detailed information and a complete lineup go to minneapolisundergroundfilmfestival.com.

A fast-paced punk fairytale that redefines the documentary genre, following three skate boarders who lived in the German Democratic Republic and luckily possessed a Super-8mm camera to document their introduction to skateboarding during their childhood in the seventies through their turbulent teens in the eighties right up to autumn of 1989, when their lives change forever. And follows them to 2011.

7:30 p.m.

“The Voice of God”

Director: Bernd Lützelter

(India/Germany, 2011, 10 Minutes)

Precedes “Go Ganges!”

7:30 p.m.

“Go Ganges!”

Director: JJ Kelly & Josh Thomas

(India/USA, 2012, 83 Minutes)

Director & Editor will be in attendance for Q&A.

Two filmmakers capture the danger, joy and significance of the mighty Ganges River as they attempt to travel its length by any means possible. The adventures provide a colorful testimony to the distress the river endures, and why it merits reprieve as an irreplaceable emblem.

9:30 p.m.

“Elko”

Director: Alexander Yan

(USA, 2011, 14 Minutes)

Precedes “Zero Killed”

9:30 p.m.

“Zero Killed”

Director: Michal Koskowski

(Germany, 2011, 81 Minutes)

People with different non-criminal backgrounds talk about their murder fantasies and get the chance to stage their fantasies as short films. A decade later, the director meets with these people and interviews them about current topics such as revenge, torture, war, terrorism, media, domestic violence, the death penalty, suicide etc. Their replies are juxtaposed with the short films based on their murder fantasies.

Saturday, Aug. 18

1-11:30 p.m.

1 p.m.

“Blood and Fire”

Director Carey Burtt

(USA, 2011, 10 minutes)

Precedes “Graupel Poetry”

1 p.m.

Graupel Poetry

Director Bruce Saxway

(China, Hong Kong, 2011, 77 Minutes)

A surreal sexually charged exploration of complex passions, bizarre love triangles and the thin line between sanity and madness.

2:30 p.m.

“I Need a Hero”

Director W.H. Bourne

(USA, 2011, 14 minutes)

Precedes “Heavy Girls”

2:30 p.m.

Heavy Girls

Director Axel Ranisch

(Germany, 2011, 76 minutes)

Sven lives with his mother, she suffers from dementia. During the day Daniel looks after her. One day, she locks Daniel on the balcony and takes a walk on her own. While both men desperately search for the old woman, a confusing affection for each other comes to light.

4:15 p.m.

MN Made

Various Directors — Shorts Program

(MN, 2012, 77 minutes)

Directors will be in attendance for Q&A.

A selection of MN made shorts featuring: “Fertile Ashes”, “Buffalo Shampoo”, and “Retirement of Joe Corduroy”

6 p.m.

“Good Taste”

Director Greg Hanson

(USA, 2012, 10 minutes)

Precedes “Red Flag”

6 p.m.

Red Flag

Director Alex Karpovsky

(USA, 2012, 84 minutes)

Teasing the line between fiction and reality, Alex Karpovsky plays an indie filmmaker who was dumped by a longtime girlfriend fed up with his refusal to marry, takes to the road with a reluctant old pal for a misbegotten mini tour. Pursued by an overly ardent groupie and his own demons as he screens his film on college campuses and independent cinemas, Alex sinks deeper into a swamp of fear and humiliations.

A team of amateur paranormal investigators struggle to make ends meet by debunking reports of supernatural incidents. With the group on the verge of bankruptcy, they take on a case involving rumors of suspicious disappearances and violent deaths linked with an abandoned schoolhouse. “Saturday Morning Massacre” is a bloody parody of mystery cartoons and the consequences of meddling with the supernatural.

Sunday, Aug. 19

1-11:30 p.m.

1 p.m.

“Untitled (Green)”

Director Michael Vale

(Australia, 2011, 11 minutes)

Precedes “Heaven+Earth+Joe Davis”

1 p.m.

“Heaven+Earth+Joe Davis”

Director Peter Sasowsky

(USA, 2011, 85 minutes)

Thirty years ago, a peg-legged motorcycle mechanic walked into the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT. They have not returned his calls. The police were called. Forty-five minutes later he walked out with an academic appointment. Since then, Joe Davis has sent vaginal contractions into space to communicate with aliens, encoded poetry into DNA, and designed a sculpture to save the world. This is a story of self-discovery, sacrifice and the complexity of human endeavor, of the price of art and the ecstatic joy of discovery.

Another selection of MN made shorts featuring: “Inquest”, “When at a Certain Party in NYC”, “Thoreau and the Lightening”, “Bring It 2 Peter”, “Slum Lord”, “Some of Angela”, “The Interview”, and “Case #377”.

6:15 p.m.

“Awards Ceremony”

Produced by Channel Z

(MPLS, 2011-2012, 60 minutes)

See highlights from the 2012 program and find out who the winning filmmakers are, this is a free event so don’t miss out.

7:30 p.m.

“The Comedy”

Director Rick Alverson

(USA, 2011, 95 minutes)

Indifferent even to the prospects of inheriting his father’s estate, Swanson (Tim Heidecker) whiles away his days with a group of aging Brooklyn hipsters, engaging in acts of recreational cruelty and pacified boredom.

9:15 p.m.

“Tatto Underground”

Director Barry Kimm

(MN, 2012, 12 minutes)

Director will be in attendance for Q&A

Precedes “Comforting Skin”

Explores the emotional connections between three real people and their tattoos. The film poses the provocative possibility of tattoos coming to life.

9:15 p.m.

“Comforting Skin”

Director Derek Franson

(Canada, 2012, 109 minutes)

An emotionally fragile woman’s lonely reality is shattered when her tattoo seemingly comes to life. Offering its undying attention and otherworldly sensual pleasures, the tattoo quickly seduces, drawing her into a dangerous and all consuming bong that requires more than she may be able to give.